The Power of Three
by Orquidea Rosada
Summary: Pouncival, Plato, and Tumblebrutus fight for the position of second in command next to Alonzo. However, their means of competition may prove to be more trouble than they realize. Will eventually change from T to M.
1. Proposition

_Summary: The kittens are all grown up, as well as their problems and their responsibilities. But some cats refuse to grow up, at least not correctly, as the former tom kits decide to play what could be considered by a most a rather __dangerous game with some of the other cats in the tribe._

_Rated: M for strong, suggestive language, and (not necessarily explicit) scenes in later chapters.  
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_Author's Note: This story is proving to be a bit of an experiment for me, as it is shaping up to be dialogue heavy, but information heavy, and the balance between the two is slightly daunting to me. If at any time things become overwhelmingly confusing, please point it out to me. Things may get confusing on purpose, but I need to know when too much is too much. Also, most cats are easily defined by coat color, but Plato, Pouncival, and Tumblebrutus are relatively the same color, which makes them a little more difficult for me to refer to at times without placing their names in the story a million times - a redundancy I usually like to avoid. So, please give me your wonderfully helpful feedback, and I hope you enjoy the story! And if you have a better name for the story, please help me, cause this is the working title, and I can't think of a good other one.  
_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Cats, the musical by the brilliant Andrew Lloyd Webber, or the poems they originated from, from the incredible poet T. S. Eliot, or any of the characters presented here…except for the dog, but he has no name, and he's not important…So I guess it's safe to say any character that are mine aren't important and easily disregardable unless they end up turning the story upside down…which they won't…Anyways, moving on...  
_

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**Chapter one - Proposition**

Plato slowly opened his eyes, shielding his face from the sun with his paw, as he looked up to the clouds. With a short sigh, he sat up, looking around in somewhat of a haze. Tumblebrutus was sitting nearby, looking bored. Plato shrugged. "You would think with age," he began, "he would have learned to be on time."

"Some things you never grow out of," Tumblebrutus stated wisely. Plato just made a face and lied down on his stomach. Then his ear twitched.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear wha--oh, that." Both cats turned to see a black and tan Pollicle chasing a small brown and white tom down the streets, barking loudly, snapping his jaws just centimeters away from the tom's tail. "Shall we?"

"You know, they say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," Plato said, stretching. "But he's so blissful that way..." The two toms jumped down from the car they were lying on.

The dog barked, cornering the cat behind a bush, but was unable to get into the bush himself. The tom turned and hissed, swiping at the dog. The Pollicle did everything in its power to shove itself deeper into the bush. Three inches. Two inches. One inch. And teeth were just about the snap shut on the tom when…

Something hit the dog on its back, causing it to remove itself from the foliage and look to what hit him. Another cat with a patch over his eye was standing by the side, looking on curiously. The dog growled, before turning back to its favored prey. But in front of the shrubbery, a white-faced and brown cat had his eyes wide, hissing lowly, and swiping at the dog.

Shocked, the Pollicle backed away. Before he knew what had happened, three tom cats were in front of him, each with their fur puffed out, hissing lowly, ready to attack at any movement the dog made. To the Pollicle, it seemed the cat he was chasing had multiplied.

Rather than become a scratching post, the dog turned tail and trotted off.

The cat who was originally running for his life jumped forward in elation at being safe and yelled, "That's what you get!" The two toms just looked at him.

"Pouncival, you idiot," Tumblebrutus shook his head.

Plato, on the other paw, whacked the tom upside the head, to which Pouncival muttered a small cry of pain. "You're not a kitten anymore. He's not a puppy anymore. Don't you think teasing him constantly is getting a _little_ dangerous?"

"Don't take it so seriously, guys," Pouncival frowned, rubbing his head. "We were just playing."

"The games he wants to play with you, you wouldn't like," Tumblebrutus said. "Can you squeak like a _chew toy_? Frankly, I'm happy not knowing that bit of information about you. But I think _he_ would like to find out."

"He almost had you that time," Plato nodded his head to the other two, and they set off on their way. "Will you listen to us this time and just let it go?"

"He started it!" The three toms walked towards the junkyard. They were running late. Alonzo had something he wanted to say to them, but preferred they all be there to hear at the same time. Considering how busy Alonzo had been since Old Deuteronomy - rest his dear soul - passed away a few months prior, they were very curious what could make him take time out of his demanding schedule and want to talk with them.

Things had changed so much in the junkyard. With Old Deuteronomy gone, all the kittens grown up, and no new additions to the tribe of which to speak, everything seemed uneasily calm. Previous problems were often much louder, much more animated and far easier to solve than the problems that replaced them. These problems weren't solved as simply as fighting their way out of it…

Plato and the others came out from behind an old tire to see Alonzo sitting by himself, enjoying a peaceful moment. "Once upon a time," Pouncival whispered to the others, "we would have tackled him right out of that daydream of his." His tail lashed back and forth at the thought.

"Yes," Plato nodded. "Kittens _would_ do that." He looked to Pouncival, who narrowed his eyes at Plato. Then the patched tom grabbed his tail to make it stop lashing. "Come on…" The three bi-colored toms walked over to Alonzo.

The black and white tom slowly opened his eyes to see he was no longer alone. He got up wearily, and tried his best to smile, but none came. "You look tired," Tumblebrutus observed.

"You think?" Alonzo put his paws on his hips. "Look, I'm going to make this quick, because I think I have some time for a nap before I have to go out again. You know how when Munkustrap was in my position, he had me as his second?"

"It wasn't _that_ long ago, 'Lonz," Pouncival smiled.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot lately. Munkustrap had me, and that made his job a lot easier. I mean, A LOT easier. He actually got to sleep a good twelve hours most days."

"That's not much," Pouncival remarked.

"I know," Alonzo said. "I get about eight." All three toms made a noise of disgust at the thought. "Exactly. Now, out of all the toms in the junkyard, I've been thinking. You three haven't exactly been pulling your weight around here."

"What?" Plato asked, outraged.

"Well, not that others have been, to an extent," Alonzo said, putting a paw to his forehead in an attempt to avoid a migraine. "But at least I know what they're like. They aren't fighters, not like the three of you could be. I've seen you guys strutting around the streets, like your something special."

"If you have time to see us _strutting_ around the streets," Tumblebrutus marveled, "Does that mean you're not doing your job right?" The glare from the black and white silenced the younger tom.

"My point is," continued Alonzo, "That we need more toms to protect the tribe. And you three would be perfect. Well, when I say that, I mean--"

"You're asking us to be second?" Pouncival asked, eyes wide with excitement. "That would be--"

"Impossible," Tumblebrutus interjected. "Only one cat can be second - the one Alonzo counts on. There can't be three seconds! …Unless it's _three_ _seconds_, as in the _time_, but…"

"Yeah," Plato nodded in agreement. "And Munkustrap isn't exactly old news! He can still hold his own better than any cat. I mean…except against Macavity."

Tumblebrutus smiled. "It's not like he inherited Old Deuteronomy's age along with the title of leader. Hey…does that mean we have to put _Old_ in front of his name, since he's leader, now?"

"Old Munkustrap," Pouncival said, testing the name, to which he seemed satisfied. "Think he has to start walking with a limp now?"

"Or get ninety-nine wives?" Plato interjected.

"Or gain a whole lot of weight?" Tumblebrutus finished.

"Will you three shut up?" Alonzo barked, and the three looked at him in confusion. "Old Deuteronomy only _just_ died, and you're making fun of him as though you don't care! Have you no decency?" The three brown and whites hung their heads at varying levels, as they felt different degrees of shame. "Maybe it was a bad idea to ask you."

"No!" Plato said quickly.

"We were just…" Tumblebrutus thought for a moment. "We still treat him as though he's here, Alonzo, that's all. It's not easy to accept that he's gone." The other two nodded in agreement. Alonzo looked them over, but sighed, with no other choice but to believe them.

"I don't have time for this. Now, I was going to say…before I was interrupted…that I think its best - with the way the three of you act together - that only one of you becomes the second." The three toms were ready to protest, but stopped at the lifted paw of the black and white. "No, you three work it out between yourselves! I don't want to know anything about it. I have enough to do without it. Come to me when you're ready to begin training." Alonzo turned and trudged off, ready for a good long nap, but knowing he may not get one.

"That lazy little…" Plato trailed off, as he watched the corner Alonzo had disappeared around.

"He just doesn't want us bitching about it later," Pouncival said.

"Or he thinks it would be fun to turn us against each other," Tumblebrutus mused, a smile crossing his face. Then, quite suddenly, all the cats grew serious.

The three toms looked at each other, each with a million things running through their minds, but none actually voicing their opinions. They eyed each other carefully, each looking at the others in an accusatory manner. Finally, Plato spoke up. "Well…I guess I should tell him to start my training."

"What?" Pouncival asked, fur puffing out.

"What could possibly make you think that?" Tumblebrutus spat, fur equally puffed out. "Alonzo needs a _second_. You don't like following _anyone_ if you don't have to."

"But think of what a position can get me?" Plato grinned. "I'd get trained by the best, I'd have high status in the tribe, and the queens would never say no to me."

Pouncival's ears went flat against his head. He shared a glance with Tumblebrutus, but neither one would say what they were thinking - that it was only _one_ queen he was concerned with getting her attention. "Look," Pouncival began, "While you may use your power for _evil_, hear me out. I happen to actually _like_ the idea of fighting. And I'm more flexible than you. In personality as well!" He gave a charming smile, which failed to impress his adversaries.

"Well," Tumblebrutus piped in. "I'm sure the second would have to know when to fight and when not to. And who says he has to be strong?"

"So," Pouncival pursed his lips. "You would want _you_ to be the second, oh weak one?"

At this, the three began to argue over one another. The exact nature of their arguments could not be heard, but it seemed the words, "weakling," "terrified," and "poser" were used, along with a few "blah, blah, blah's" from Pouncival, as he eventually figured he wasn't being heard anyway.

Plato sighed. "Alright!" he said, putting his paw up to stop the two. "This is ridiculous."

"You're telling me!" Tumblebrutus scoffed. "Pounce doesn't even know how to argue!"

"No." Plato put a paw to his forehead. "Not that! Think about it! Why are we fighting for just _one_ of us to be the second, when all _three_ of us could be?" He gave a moment for that to sink in.

"But…" Pouncival's ear lay flat against his head. "He only wanted one of us to be second. He specifically said that…you know, before he gave his lazy-ass decision to make us choose who."

"Right," Plato said, ignoring the last comment. "As back-up, it only makes sense that _one_ of us be second. But what if only _one_ of us takes the position…but the _three_ of us are really in charge of that position?"

Tumblebrutus' eyes widened. "What do you mean?" he asked, though he could already guess.

"Each of us has our own personality, our own attributes, our own skills that we could bring to the job. Separated, that's all we are: one cat in one position, with only that much power. But as the three of us combined, hiding behind one position, and with the knowledge the three of us have, think of the power we could have?"

"Wow…" Pouncival smiled to Tumblebrutus. "The tribe would be chaos."

"Or bend to our whim," Tumblebrutus corrected, trying to make it sound better than a coup.

"It's just a thought," Plato shrugged, waving his paw as though dismissing the other two ideas. "But as long as he only came to one of the three of us, we're set."

"Yeah," Tumblebrutus nodded. "But who would be the actual second? We still have to tell Alonzo who we chose among ourselves."

Plato twitched his tail. "You know…I haven't really thought of that part yet. Because… I want to be the second." The two were about to resume arguments with Plato, but he put up a paw to stop them. "And I know you two do as well. But rather than argue, I wouldn't want to jeopardize our friendship."

"Well," Pouncival sat back against an old soap box. "How about a competition? And the last cat standing wins?"

"What kind of competition?" Tumblebrutus asked. "Because I'm not about to fight with either of you." Pouncival frowned at the disregard to his idea. "Maybe something different, like a game of wits or--"

"Shh!" Plato stood up straight, the other two looking over to see what had caused the tom to get so rigid. There was some talking around the corner, and some giggling, before four young queens revealed themselves the source of the noise. They were talking lowly among themselves, enjoying their conversation, when they noticed the toms, and stopped.

Everyone was still for a moment. The queens looked to one another; the toms just watched the queens.

Finally, a calico stepped forward and spoke. "Hey, guys!" Etcetera smiled to them. She had grown up quite a bit. Her intense conviction to the Rum Tum Tugger had died down to simple stalker-like symptoms, and most of her overzealous nature was a thing of the past. That didn't make her any less a chore to sit and talk to, however. Her mouth ran a mile a minute, as her thoughts tried unsuccessfully to catch up with it. "How are you doing?"

"We're not doing anything!" Tumblebrutus said quickly. Pouncival elbowed him in the ribs.

"That wasn't her question," he hissed. To the queen, he said, "We're fine. Hot day out today, isn't it?"

"Mm," Etcetera considered, looking up to the sky, speckled with clouds. "At least there's a cool breeze."

"Yeah," Electra agreed. Her fur was mostly black, so she would be most concerned about the heat.

"We're going to take a walk around the neighborhood," Etcetera announced proudly. "Probably find a nice shade to lie under. Wanna join us—?" She, too, was elbowed in the ribs, by Jemima. "OW!" she cried. "What was that for!" Jemima made a slight head-movement, unintentionally conspicuous to all, bringing their attention to Victoria and Plato.

Plato had been keeping his eye on Victoria most of the time the queens were there. Victoria, on the other hand, did everything she could to avert her attention. While Plato had grown into a strong cat, admirable for both his intelligence and his strength; and Victoria had grown even more graceful and beautiful, but far quieter; the two cats seemed to have something stopping them from being as happy as they were as kittens. None of the others were aware of what happened between the two cats after that Jellicle Ball, for none would dare ask them. Victoria would simply go quiet, and look away. And Plato, strong as he was, would get a pained look in his eye, and change the subject, with an air of intimidation that assured the end of questioning.

"We should get going!" Etcetera said, taking Victoria's paw. Then, deciding, she had been far too obvious in her reaction, decided to take Jemima's paw as well, leaving Electra to trail behind. "I will talk to you guys later, okay?"

"Whatever," was Plato's only remark, as the queens rushed off. The toms were quiet. Plato's tail was flicking, as he was lost in thought. Tumblebrutus and Pouncival looked to each other helplessly. Finally, Plato made a face and looked to Pouncival. "Of all the things to ask them, you chose the weather? How cliché are you?"

"It…seemed like a good topic!"

Plato shook his head. Then, after a moment of staring to where the other cats ran off to, a wicked grin slowly began to creep across his face. "I know what kind of competition we could have."

"Huh?" Tumblebrutus asked. "OH! Right! I almost forgot about that!"

"We have to do a competition in which none of us has had any success in the past. Something where it's equal ground for all of us. And whoever wins gets the job as second."

"Sounds good," Pouncival nodded. "But come on. What's one thing that we've _all_ sucked at in the past?"

Plato smiled. "Queens."

Tumblebrutus flinched. "What? Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean…what with…I mean…" He pointed to the queens who had just past, not wanting to say the name each of them was thinking at the moment.

"No, not _those_ queens," Plato said, still holding his smile. The other two looked at each other.

What other queens could he possibly have in mind?


	2. Beginnings

**Chapter 2 - Beginning**

Plato walked quickly to his den, Tumblebrutus trailing close behind. Pouncival, on the other hand, kept looking over his shoulder, taking big, obvious steps, as though he were sneaking into something. He then proceeded to flatten himself against a smooth surface, as though someone had just passed by, and he had to strain to make himself invisible. Once the supposed danger was gone, he continued his way into the den.

Pouncival took his sweet time entering, looking back out the entrance to make sure they weren't followed by his invisible adversaries. Once he finally decided the coast was clear, he slowly sat down, his ears up in attention, still looking outside, completely serious about the whole affair.

Plato rolled his eyes, glancing over to Tumblebrutus, before turning back to Pouncival. "Are ya done?" he asked curtly.

Pouncival snapped out of his imaginative state and saw his two friends staring at him, with that look they often gave him - _Such a kitten…_ He sat bolt upright, reminding himself of why they were _really_ there, rather than the game he had invented for them in his head. Clearing his throat, he deepened his voice and straightened up. "So…what are we going to do?"

"Not yet," Plato said sternly, while handing the toms two blankets, and nodding his head to the den opening. Taking the cue, Pouncival and Plato draped the blankets over the den opening, fastening them in place, before sitting on either side of the white-faced tom. Then Plato took out some stray leaves of paper from a box in the corner, as well as a small pencil humans often used on golf courses or in libraries. "Now," he began. "Who knows how to write?"

Tumblebrutus frowned. "Why do you have paper and pencils if you don't know how--"

"_I'm a cat_!" Plato defended. "It's not exactly on my list of things to learn! Come on, one of you _has_ to know how to write. You have humans; I don't. Pouncival?"

"Me!" squeaked the tom. "Who do I look like, Sagwa?"

"Tumble?" Both cats turned to the tom. He frowned, flicking his tail.

"Alright," he said, grabbing the pencil and paper from Plato's paw. "But don't tell anyone. My reputations on the line, otherwise…" He dragged the box Plato had been using to keep things, like, oh, say, paper and pencils that he never planned on using himself, and used it as a make-shift desk. Putting the lead to the paper, he waited for instructions. Plato smiled wickedly.

"Now, what queens are you talking about, Plato?" Pouncival asked.

"Write this down," Plato instructed. Tumblebrutus' pencil began moving like mad as Plato recited the list. "Bombalurina. Cassandra. Tantomile. Demeter. Rumpleteazer. Exotica." After he was done, both toms turned to stare at Plato.

Pouncival grimaced. "Do you honestly think those queens would have any interest in _us_!" he bellowed, his paws rising in the air animatedly to emphasize his point.

"We're still kittens to them, Plato," Tumblebrutus pointed out, albeit more calmly.

"That's the challenge. Each of us will have one queen to try and win over."

"When you say win over…" Tumblebrutus asked wearily. "What exactly do we have to do to--to them…in order for us to win?"

"Get them to go out with us. Just once. Away from the junkyard. On a real date." After Plato finished, he gave Tumblebrutus a look of reprimand for thinking anything more than that.

Pouncival sighed. "I don't think that's gunna work. I mean, don't they all have mates?"

Tumblebrutus' face lit up. "No! The only queens who are officially mated are Jenny and Jelly! And we wouldn't include them. Not at all!" He stuck his tongue out at the thought.

"No, they're mated, aren't they?"

"No," Plato said. "Bomba and Tugger, do you honestly think those two would settle down? Cassie and Alonzo are sweet to one another, and there might be something going on there, but I don't think either of them _want_ to be mated. Tantomile is only ever with her brother--"

"Which is weird in itself," Pouncival interjected.

Plato continued, ignoring the comment. "Demeter and Munkustrap…let's face it, those two have no idea whether they're coming or going, let alone being mates. Rumpleteazer… well… I don't know what's going on between her and Mungo. But they don't seem like mates, right?"

"What _is_ up with them?" Tumblebrutus wondered out loud. "For the longest time I thought they were brother and sister…"

"So did I!' Pouncival exclaimed, glad to know he wasn't the only one who had those thoughts.

"Ahem…" The two cats calmed down and looked back to Plato. "And no one really knows anything about Exotica, so she's fair game, right?"

After this, the three bi-colored toms sat and thought about the prospects of what they were about to take on. It _was_ possible. And they wouldn't have to necessarily do anything outrageous. The biggest obstacle they would have to face would probably be their status in the tribe. They were still considered to be really young, if not simply called _kittens_, and dismissed from anything important in the tribe. Up until now.

Tumblebrutus was the first to break the silence. "You know, we probably shouldn't include Cassandra. I mean, we want to get on Alonzo's good side, right?"

"Good point," Pouncival agreed, complete with exuberant nodding.

"Fine," Plato agreed, a hint of a smile crossing his face as the two took to his plan whole-heartedly. "Cross her off the list." Tumblebrutus shook his head, but did as he was told. Pouncival, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. Plato frowned. "What?"

"I was just thinking," he said. "I want to take Bombalurina."

"No," Plato said immediately, moving his paw in indication for Tumblebrutus to take her off the list as well. Pouncival's smile fell. Before he could ask why, Plato sighed and leaned towards the tom. "It would be too easy to get her to go on a date without winning her over. It would be too hard to tell whether you won or not."

"Oh, come on!" Pouncival glared. "This can't be _completely_ fair, now can it? I mean, anyone who gets Demeter would have the toughest job. She hates toms!" He waited to see if she would get crossed off the list. Tumblebrutus looked to Plato. The white faced tom shrugged in response, and her name was crossed off the list.

Tumblebrutus looked at the names left on the list. "And how do we expect to do Tantomile? …well, not _do_ Tantomile, but I mean…well, you know what I mean. Stop laughing, Pouncival." Tumblebrutus glared at the patched tom, who did his best to stifle his giggles, before continuing. "Tantomile's some kind of a mystic, or something, right? Especially with her brother around all the time? She would know what we were up to right away, and then where would we be?"

Pouncival sighed. "Maybe this is a bad idea." Plato glowered at him. He hated being told he was in any way wrong.

"No," he said. "We're just going about this wrong. Let's work under the assumption that Tantomile wouldn't find out. And we have to make sure that we give the queen to the tom according to the tom's specialty. Like…um…" He turned to Tumblebrutus, who had thrown out his previous list and made a new one. "Tumble, here, is rather shy, right? So, what queen is the most outgoing?"

"Bombalurina!" Pouncival nodded his head in triumph.

"Can't you get her out of your mind?" Plato shook his head. "No, it's Rumpleteazer!" Tumblebrutus' eyes widened at the thought. He looked to Pouncival, trying to laugh off the suggestion, hoping his friend would back him up on it. But Pouncival seemed to be considering it.

"Yeah," Pouncival agreed. "They're so different! That would be a real challenge for him."

"Wait!" said the tom whose future was quickly snowballing out of control. "Mungo is my friend. Do you really want me to try and steal Rumpleteazer away from him?"

"They're not together," Plato said, though unsure of the facts.

"Whatever they are, they're joined at the hip!" Tumblebrutus corrected. "I can't just go waltzing in there and taking away his queen. What kind of cat would I be to do that to a friend?" Plato twitched his tail. Tumblebrutus' mouth opened to take back his statement, but upon Plato raising to his feet, he went silent, looking to Pouncival for support. But he was on his own.

"_What kind of cat would do that to his friend_?" Plato repeated, his eyes boring into Tumblebrutus. "Well, maybe the magical kind, I don't know. They think they're above it all, and as long as the queen is intrigued by his magic, he can do whatever the hell he pleases and take her as his own. Maybe _that_ kind of a cat would do that to his friend!"

Plato caught his breath, his two friends looking at him in shock. He looked away, remembering where he was. "Anyway…" he finished softly, "you're not that kind of tom. And you don't know he's with her. And you're working from scratch. No history between you and her. You'll be fine." He sat back down, looking to the side, too embarrassed to look at the others.

Pouncival cleared his throat, making his way through the tense air in the room and sitting next to Tumblebrutus, looking down at the list. "That leaves Tantomile and Exotica…"

Plato looked to Pouncival. "You take Tantomile," he said instantly. Pouncival's jaw dropped. "You two couldn't be any more different."

"What!" Pouncival screeched. "Fine, then!" He snatched the list out of Tumblebrutus' paws and looked at the queens listed there. "You have to take whoever I tell you to, then!"

"There's only one left," Plato said, looking at his friend as though concerned with his extremely short-term memory.

"_Oh, no_," Pouncival said, shaking his head. Then, muttering under his breath as he moved his paw down the list, he said "You and Exotica are probably in a club for cats that are moody and like to be mysterious to their friends. I'm not letting you take her, nuh-uh…no way." Plato slowly looked over to Tumblebrutus.

Tumblebrutus smiled uneasily. "He's _your_ friend." Plato's glance seamlessly fell into a glare, and Tumblebrutus looked away, in an attempt to avoid the searing look he was receiving. But that was proving to be impossible…

He was saved when Pouncival's paw fell on a name on the list, and a smile crossed his face. A smile that could wordlessly call the attention of his two friends. "Plato, you have charm. You have looks to back it up. A show of strength, too. You could probably get any queen you wanted with just a wave of your paw if you wanted to. Just like Tugger!" Plato eyed him suspiciously, but the tom continued grinning. "So any queen on here would be like pairing you up with Bombalurina! Too easy. At least, _I_ think so. So I think the perfect queen for you would be--"

"Demeter!" Tumblebrutus finished the thought. Plato's eyes widened at the suggestion. But Pouncival didn't have time to revel in the other tom's reaction. He was too busy crumbling up the paper and throwing it at Tumblebrutus.

"You took my moment!" he yelled.

"You took too damn long!"

"Wait a minute!" Plato yelled. The other two looked at him, almost as though they were challenging him to say he wouldn't do it. And what could he argue? What they had said was remotely true, and he wouldn't deny it if it weren't. He _did_ have a certain know-how when it came to charming people into doing things. And after he had made his other friends take on queen they would rather _die_ than try to flirt with, he could only have one answer to their suggestion.

"Done." Pouncival and Tumblebrutus smiled to one another at their success. "Now…we need rules."

At this, the three toms gathered close, handing Tumblebrutus more paper, feeling the thrill of their kittenhood games coming back to them. They all had to agree on the rules of play before they could start. _Always_. There had been too many fights when adding rules in randomly in the middle of play. (Though they never seemed to learn from past mistakes, and would end up having the same problem over and over again.) So the spark returned to each one of their eyes, as their not-so-distant youth once again rung through.

"Rule number one!" Tumblebrutus announced, commanding the attention of the other toms. "The first week, we must only observe the queen we are assigned to. And no interaction can happen between said tom and said queen. Otherwise, the tom would be considered to be cheating."

"Write it down!" Pouncival said in almost a panic, and Tumblebrutus fumbled with the paper and pencil to begin scribbling it down. "That is, if you can remember all those _saids_ you put in there." Tumblebrutus stole a moment away from his writing for the ever important task of whacking Pouncival upside the head.

"Rule number two." Plato smiled. "Absolutely no kissing, hugging...hell, no _touching_ of the queen, not even to give her a comforting pat on the back or anything, unless you manage to go out with her. This has to be done by charm alone."

"That's a good one." Tumblebrutus wrote quickly. "How many l's are there in _hell_?"

"Rule number three," Pouncival chimed in. "No talking to another tom's queen about said tom, under any circumstances."

"In other words," Tumblebrutus said. "No sabotage?" Pouncival nodded fervently, though seeming more contented with his version of the rule. (It had a _said_ in it, and he thought it was rather clever.) Tumblebrutus added that to the list. "That sounds like the basics, right?"

"We can write the rest as we go along," Plato nodded. "But for now…lets go celebrate!" Plato got up, Pouncival gladly following, muttering a tune of, "_mouse cakes, mouse cakes,_" under his breath. Tumblebrutus folded up his list and hid it under some old books Plato had in his den; books that the tom would never read, but made his den look 'smart'.

"We're celebrating already?" Tumblebrutus asked, following the toms out the den. "But we haven't even started yet!"

"This celebration will be for our _brilliant_ plan," Plato said.

"And great friends," Pouncival added, trotting after Plato, giddy as can be.

"Sounds good," Tumblebrutus agreed. They made their way to a pub that Gus had told them about in one of his stories when he had still been alive.

------

Demeter walked up to Bombalurina, who was lounging on the old tire, looking up towards the sky. The red queen took a moment to look Demeter over before laughing to herself. "What's with the puffed out fur, Dem? See a ghost?"

"No," Demeter said, trying to flatten her fur. "Ever get the feeling someone was talking about you?" Bombalurina just smiled, then continued gazing at the stars.


	3. Calculating

_A/N: School...life...tired...and writer's block. You ever have one of those chapters you just had to finish and get up and move on, instead of sitting and overthinking it for much longer? Yeah...so if this has any major mechanical mistakes in it, feel free to tell me. As much as I tried to concentrate, alot of my "reviewing" of this chapter ended up being "glazing over" of the chapter. Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Calculating**

Demeter sat alone on a nice cool day, staring off into the distance, possibly thinking of her third name, or just what she was going to eat for dinner. After a while of this, she rolled on her back, one paw in the air, eyes watching the sky. A while later, she sat up, took in a deep breath, considered changing positions, and sighed. Then she resolved to lie down again, to stare off in a different direction, and deeply contemplate something. Maybe something different. Maybe not.

By the looks of it, the "maybe not" was the best guess.

"Everlasting Cat," Plato said to himself as he watched from the inside of a pipe far enough away that she couldn't detect him, but close enough be able to hear any conversations she should have been have been having, but didn't. "I've never seen a more boring cat in my life…" He was about ready to fling himself in front of a moving car than have to sit and watch one more moment of Demeter's uninteresting existence. But he decided to be nice about it and continue watching.

He later found himself wishing he had chosen to be mean and leave.

----

Mungojerrie raced down the pathways of the junkyard, Rumpelteazer just behind him. He stopped cold, the little tabby queen crashing into him, and both cats went rolling about two feet before coming to a stop. After a moment of the two staying perfectly still, Rumpelteazer raised her head and started rubbing it. Mungojerrie, in turn, rubbed the area on his rear where the queen had ended up head-butting him. "Ow," he moaned.

"Nice one, Jerrie," Rumpelteazer groaned, falling dramatically to the side, one leg flying in the air, before going limp beside her.

"You was tail-gatin', Teaze," Mungojerrie defended. "'Ow many times do I gotta tell ya, not to tailgate…?"

"Yeah, well…" was the answer, which seemed to satisfy the tabby male. They both picked up, shook off any injuries they had, and began their race around the junkyard.

A few seconds passed…

…and Tumblebrutus came wheezing from behind the old ford in the junkyard. He collapsed against the hubcab, falling to the ground, struggling to catch his breath. After the thought that he would _die from exhaustion_ had passed, and he caught some of his breath, he managed to mutter, "What the fu--" before doubling over from cramping.

------

Pouncival hummed a song to himself as he walked around the junkyard. He wasn't too concerned about his mission just yet. He had a good week to work on it. A little less than that, as a few days had past as it was…but he had just eaten a big meal, and didn't feel in the mood to spy on anyone, least of all two supposed witch's cats.

Either way, he would need to brush up on his spying ability, something he hadn't done since he was a kitten, following Etcetera around. But the calico always _knew_ the patched tom was following her. In fact, she had suggested the game of spying to begin with. And they each took turns being the spyer or the spyee.

But now that they were older, his kittenhood playmate only talked to the queens. And he didn't mind that so much, except that Etcetera was a good friend of his, and now, quite suddenly, she was…not.

Wiping the thought from his mind, he thought dessert would be in order after a long day of procrastination. After all, what was better: A dish of cream or following someone around under the heat of the sun?

---------

Plato sat with Tumblebrutus in his den. They were waiting for Pouncival, but of course that tom was always late. And while it would have been fun to stare at each other, the two opted instead to start without him. "She's so boring," Plato said, rubbing his temples, as though he had been utterly annoyed by the queen's lack of enthusiasm in life. "I don't blame Macavity for trying to kidnap her. It would at least make her DO something!"

Tumblebrutus frowned. "Isn't it against the rules to badmouth one's queen?"

"No. Did you want to make it one?"

Tumblebrutus shook his head. "No, no, by all means, let's keep that open."

Plato smiled. "Rumple annoying you?"

"They're insane!" Tumblebrutus exclaimed, not missing his cue to let go of his frustration. "All they ever do is run around the junkyard as fast as possible! How am I supposed to keep up with them!"

Plato chuckled at his friend's predicament. "Learn to run just as fast? Oh, come on, it can't be _that_ fast, now can it? At least your queen _does_ something! Mine just stays still all day. Oh, wait, she breathes, too. I think…well, I wouldn't notice if she stopped. That's about it."

They heard footfalls outside the den. The two toms looked at each other, going silent. But when the footfalls revealed a Pouncival to be its source, the two cat's panicked looks turned into ones of annoyance. Oblivious, Pouncival sat between his two friends, smiling from ear to ear. "What's up?"

"You're late," Plato said, glaring at the tom.

"And you have cream all over your face," Tumblebrutus said, creeping in a little closer to examine the tom's face. "And it looks like it came from a dish…"

"How do you figure?" Plato asked getting just as close to Pouncival.

"I'm perceptive that way."

"Um," Pouncival leaned back. "Can you two give me some room!" The two toms sat back in their original positions, leaving Pouncival with plenty of space to begin his tale of woe or annoyance at his queen. Or he would have, had he a story to tell.

"Well?" Tumblebrutus asked.

"Well, what?"

"Don't you have something to say about Tantomile!"

"Oh, yeah, her," Pouncival took his tail and began to wring it in his paws. "I…I'm having trouble finding her."

Plato rolled his eyes. "Considering you've been looking in dishes of cream, I'd imagine that she would be a _very_ hard to find." Plato pulled Pouncival's tail out from between his paws and tossed it to the side, with no regard to the pain that would cause the patched tom. "You haven't even started, have you?"

Pouncival tended to his tail, not looking the others in the eye. "Well…"

"You have three days, Pouncival!" Plato spat. "Tantomile isn't the easiest queen to understand! You should be happy to take advantage of this time."

"I will, I will…" Pouncival looked off to the side. Plato just shook his head.

Tumblebrutus sighed. "Three days…how the hell am I going to keep track of those two?"

------

Tumblebrutus peeked out as Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer slowly ambled around the corner. This was odd…they weren't running about today. At all. What's more, they weren't laughing up a storm. Maybe something was wrong. Hopefully with Rumpleteazer. Then he could know her a little better. Get into her head a little better.

The tom walked a little closer, and the two cats walked forward a little as well. Slightly annoyed, and wanting to hear the conversation they were now whispering to one another, Tumblebrutus crept a little closer. The two cats jumped on top of an old oven and stayed there for a moment, Rumpleteazer's tail swishing back and forth. She seemed to be convulsing. Holding back a sob, maybe?

The patched tom tiptoed just a little closer…

…then quite suddenly found himself upside-down.

Rumpelteazer jumped down from the oven, smiling up at the cat. Tumblebrutus suddenly realized she wasn't keeping from crying…she was keeping from laughing! When he figured out he could hardly move his limbs, he was suddenly able to figure out what had happened.

He was caught in a net.

"Well, well, well," said Rumpleteazer, her eyes glistening as though she had just caught a mouse. "Would ya look what we caugh', Jerrie!"

Tumblebrutus managed to see the tom lying on the oven, smiling smugly. "I'm a lil' surprised. I though' it would be that otha' one."

"Well," Rumpleteazer shrugged. "As long as 'e's not botherin' us anymore." Rumpleteazer joined her partner in crime, and was about to leave with him.

"Wait!" Tumblebrutus called. "Aren't you going to get me down!" The cat burglars looked at each other before falling into a fit of giggles. Then, without an actual answer, (as thought they needed to give one after that), raced away.

Tumblebrutus moaned to himself, trying to kick his way out of the net. But he found that job impossible. Giving in, he just went limp, and sighed. "And I want to be second when I didn't even see _that_ coming?" he asked no one in particular.

-------

Pouncival crept forward, his ears at attention, as he lay low to the ground, his fur just brushing against the dirt. He had found Coricopat and Tantomile, and now he wanted to get closer.

His mission? To get as close as possible without being found out. What made Tantomile tick? What was her life blood? What were her likes and dislikes? Could she stop that creepy unison thing she did with her brother? And did she ever have a kittenhood, or did she emerge from an orb during a moonlit night, complete with all current characteristics?

…was Tantomile her real name?

These very serious questions needed to be addressed before he came in close contact with the alien from mars – something she had made herself out to be in his mind, complete with retractable antennae so she could pass herself off as feline. After all, her secret agent status (another possible explanation for her strange behavior) could cause him harm. And were he to mess up, he may just sign himself a death sentence. Of death.

Ooh, a cricket!

Now stalking the cricket, which was a possible subordinate to Tantomile, he prepared to do as his name implied and pounce…

"What is he doing?"

"Tracking a cricket."

Pouncival jumped in surprise, looking left, right, then up, to see Coricopat was staring down at him from atop an old car bumper. He looked past him to see Tantomile sitting just behind her brother, looking on with mild curiosity. He looked beside him to see the cricket had made its escape…possibly to its escape pod to return to the mother ship.

These things weren't coincidences…

"Pouncival," Coricopat said, causing said cat to look back up to the multicolored tom. "What have you been doing these past few days?"

Pouncival thought about this for a moment. Then he felt there was no way to answer this other than to tell the truth. "F-Following you two…" He didn't know why, but he thought it was best to take note and mention to the others later that Coricopat had this _ability_ to make Pouncival tell the truth. (Little did he know it was simply intimidation.)

"I know," Coricopat said with some annoyance. "Now a more important question. Did you think we didn't notice?"

"Well…" Pouncival sunk down, his ears falling back on his head, as though he were being punished. "Ideally, you weren't supposed to…" Coricopat looked back to his sister, who gave a meek smile at the response.

"At least he's honest," Tantomile said.

"Kittens," Coricopat shook his head. Pouncival narrowed his eyes, sitting up straight, his ears standing up in attention.

"What did you call me?"

Coricopat looked back, slightly perturbed at the young cat's sudden anger. "I only spoke the situation as I saw it." Pouncival huffed at the suggestion. "Now stop following us." With that, the tom whipped around, his tail nearly smacking Pouncival in the head, and began walking off with his sister. Tantomile took a moment to look Pouncival over, a calculating expression on her face, before following suit with her brother.

After the cats were out of ear shot, Pouncival hung his head lightly, his lips in a small pout. "I'm not a kitten…"

-------

Demeter sat about, lazing around. There was a brown and white moth resting on her flank, but she didn't care to notice. One careless flick of the tail, and the moth decided the situation was far too dangerous to stay where it was, and flew away.

Right over to Plato. He pounced before the moth even knew what had happened. Now captured in the cat's paws, the moth was at the white-faced tom's mercy. It was all Plato could do to not chuckle madly over his success. After all, he was hardly a kitten anymore. And he didn't want to scare Demeter, no matter how fun that would be. But he had been so bored watching the boring gold queen for so long, that he almost felt like maniacal laughter was not only called for, but necessary for his sanity, as irony would have it.

Demeter looked up quite suddenly, her eyes wide in fear. 'Finally!' Plato thought, as his attention was once again brought back to the mind-numbing reality before him. He didn't know what to expect from a cat who was renowned to be the epitome of cat nervousness, but anything was better than her lazing about, _thinking_.

The queen hurriedly turned and raced down the junk pile, disappearing from sight before Plato could even think to follow. Ready to reprimand himself for wanting to be the next second and not even being able to second-guess Demeter's motions, he looked to the source of the queen's sudden terror.

In a hushed conversation, Munkustrap and Skimbleshanks were walking near each other. Surely, they were talking about something important. But that's not what intrigued the bi-colored tom.

"Hmm…" Plato thought to himself for a moment, a triumphant smile slowly creeping across his face. He brought a paw up to scratch his chin, wondering just how he could take advantage of this new information. The moth, now free, quickly fluttered away from the patched tom, flying in front of Munkustrap, causing the silver tabby to jerk back his head and hiss in annoyance.


	4. Day 1

_A/N: Hahaha! I'm writing again! Hallelujah!...for me, at least. Heh, anyways. I decided to change it to Teen until we get to the more...racey chapters..which won't be for a couple of chapters, so we're safe. Anyways, enjoy the sweat and blood I put into this! This chapter is alot longer than I usually like my chapters to be. But alot of it is dialogue, so it shouldn't be too hard to read through. Don't hurt your eyes. And enjoy!_**  
**

* * *

** Day 1**

Tumblebrutus sighed to himself as the day was just beginning, the sun slowly rising into the sky. And all he could do was watch the sun rise. And wait. Waiting seemed the thing to do. Seeing as he had nowhere else to go, what with being caught in a net and all.

Every once in a while, his tail would swish back in forth when the thought of the cats who put him in said net came to his mind. Other times, he would sway his body slightly, letting the net and its occupant sway like a pendulum. But between these activities, he would…wait.

And all this waiting was interrupted by a giggle below him.

Tumblebrutus' eyes widened as he looked down and saw Etcetera smiling cheekily up at him. He felt himself go red under his fur as he stared at the little calico. "Um," was his opener.

"Good morning, Tumble," she said, unable to hide her excitement in her voice. "Well…nice morning, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded, looking off to the still rising sun. "Nice morning, it is."

"Yup," Etcetera made a big show of stretching, before letting out a long, satisfied sigh. "I would have to agree with ya on that, ol' Tumbley." There was silence. Tumblebrutus absentmindedly nodded from inside his net. Etcetera stared up at him, a huge grin plastered on her face, her paws behind her back.

Waiting…again.

"So," Etcetera began, "You're not gunna tell me what--"

"Don't ask."

"Not even a little clue?"

"Just get me down, Etcetera!" By now, he was tired of waiting, and _action_ was very much desired.

"Oh, no," Etcetera said, letting out a high-pitched, rapid giggle, before calming herself down. "You're not getting off that easily." Tumblebrutus didn't have time to wonder what Etcetera could possibly do to him when he was just out of her reach, when his would-be question was answered. "Hey, Jemima!"

"Etcetera!" The tom shifted in his tiny, confined space, trying hard to get a good look at the queen, who was now grinning maliciously – or so he interpreted her grin. "Come on, what have I ever done to you?!"

"Well, nothing," she said, taking a moment to give a thoughtful look. "But when's the next time I'll be able to find you in a net?"

"Who's in a net?" Tumblebrutus felt his face fire up in embarrassment when he saw the little black and burgundy queen come into view. Immediately, Jemima and Tumblebrutus locked eyes, and there was a split second in which Jemima's face split open with an amused smile before putting a paw over her mouth and trying to choke down a laugh. The tom's ears fell backwards. He really didn't think he had much chance for salvaging his dignity if even the most understanding of queens was trying hard not to make fun of his predicament.

Jemima walked wordlessly around the net as Tumblebrutus just stared off, trying not to pay attention to being treated like a specimen. Finally, Jemima looked to Etcetera, then back up at Tumblebrutus. "How did you get up there?" she asked, almost too sweetly. Etcetera let herself laugh some more, as Jemima once again bit back her laughter.

"It's a long story," Tumblebrutus said tersely. "Can you help me?"

Jemima turned to Etcetera. "Maybe we should cut him down."

"Well," Etcetera said, putting her paws up innocently. "I don't have anything to cut him down with. Do you?" Jemima shook her head. "Well, then, we need reinforcements."

"No, Etcetera, please!" Tumblebrutus called, managing to reach a paw out of the net to try and halt the calico queen.

"ELECTRA?!" Etcetera seemed to be dancing in place as she waited for her best friend to come bounding up. Jemima gave Etcetera an admonishing look, but the calico paid no mind.

"What the hell are you up to?" Electra asked, looking flustered as she turned a corner. "I thought you were going to get Viccie so we can go get – Whoa! Tumble, what happened to you?!" Tumblebrutus sighed, going limp in the net.

"Can you help me?" he asked meekly.

"Oh-ho-ho," Electra smiled to herself. "Yeah, give me a minute…" Instead of doing anything to cut the rope - the perfectly accessible rope, which was clearly the source holding him up - Electra bent down low, then, after getting enough energy, jumped up as high as she could, grabbed onto the net, causing Tumblebrutus to flinch as he did his best to move out of the way, and with a whoop of joy, Electra began swinging on the net.

"Electra!" Jemima chided. "That's mean!"

"I wish I'd of thought of that!" Etcetera said, jumping up and clapping her paws. Electra swung with the ease of a trapeze artist, giggling to herself and cheering with joy each time they swung, while Tumblebrutus did his best to keep him stomach from losing his dinner from the night before.

"Come on!" Tumblebrutus said, finally fed up with the queens. "Would you just help me!?"

"Come on, you two," Jemima pleaded from the sidelines, concerned with the normally placid tom's uproar.

"What's going on?" asked a pleasant voice. Tumblebrutus' heart jumped into his throat. The other queens went quiet, and as though it would help, placed themselves in front of the conspicuous net swinging from above their heads. And out came Victoria from around a corner, whose eyes instantly went up to the poor tom caught in a net. Her mouth stood open, as she stared in confusion, before looking to her friends for an explanation.

"It's not what you think!" Etcetera said quickly.

"He was already there when we got here," Electra said.

"Well, not swinging, so much," Jemima said, sending an accusatory look to the calico and the tortoiseshell.

Victoria could only smile nervously. It had been a long time since she had spoken to any of the former tom kittens. "Are you okay, Tumblebrutus?" she asked, her ears slightly back.

"Y-yeah," he said nervously.

"Did these queens do this to you?" she asked, looking over to the three queens below him. "Because…I apologize for them if they did."

"We didn't do anything!" Etcetera whined. "Tell her, Tumbley!"

"Why would they want to do something to me?" Tumblebrutus asked.

"No reason," Victoria said quickly. "Let me go get Alonzo to cut you down."

"No, wait, Victoria!" Tumblebrutus called, reaching out to her, but it was too late. Tumblebrutus sighed, eying the rope that held the net up. It really wasn't that difficult a net to undo, even for a small queen with delicate nails. They _meant_ to torture him. They may not have put him there, but certainly, the scheming little queens would have liked to make the toms pay for bringing such misery on Victoria. Unintentionally.

Jemima looked up, shrugging, with a sympathetic smile on her face. "At least you'll get cut down."

"Now," Etcetera said, getting ready to jump up to the net the way Electra had done earlier. "Are you gunna tell us how you got up there or not?"

"And give you three ideas on how to torture Plato?" Tumblebrutus asked, eyes narrowing at the calico queen. The three queens looked at each other as though they had been caught with their paws in the cat treat jar. "I thought so." Etcetera just stuck her tongue out at the tom, but could do nothing now with the black and white protector of the junkyard walking up to the small clowder of former kittens.

Victoria stood aside with her three friends as Alonzo looked up at Tumblebrutus in annoyance. "Get out of here, you four…" Etcetera let out a small "ooh…" as the queens left the tom in the net, each waving "bye" with a different intensity, from the gentle wave Victoria gave to the vehement waving of the arms from Etcetera. Then it was just Alonzo and Tumblebrutus.

"What…are…you…doing?" Alonzo glared up at the tom. He looked very tired. Too tired to possibly give the tom the benefit of the doubt.

"Oh…nothing much," Tumblebrutus said. Alonzo growled lowly as he climbed up to where the rope was tied. He began to slowly cut through the rope with a sharpened piece of metal.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Alonzo asked, as Tumblebrutus was now looking down precariously from the height he was soon going to drop from. The brown and white tom began to squirm in the net, hoping to adjust himself so he wouldn't fall on his back. "I mean, here I ask you three to make a decision, a _life changing_ decision, one that can affect the entire tribe, and what do you do? Start setting nets up and getting caught in them. _Stop moving_!"

The tom had somehow ended up on his side, facing away from Alonzo. He strained to look back at the black and white. "This wasn't our fault. Mungo and Rumple did this to me."

"Part of being second in command--after me, that is— is to be able to anticipate the antics of cats like Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer! What if this had been Macavity who set up a trap like this? You would have been rat chow by now! What part of 'Stop moving' did you not understand?!"

Tumblebrutus had managed to roll onto his stomach, though now his head was tilted. So he was most likely to take a header. He hardly wanted that. "The part where I don't get hurt in the fall! And I didn't get caught by Macavity, did I?"

"No, just by two of his best bumbling burglars," Alonzo said, sighing as he had to stop his work at cutting Tumblebrutus down; he was moving too much. "Maybe you shouldn't be second, after all."

"Hey!" Tumblebrutus said, adjusting himself until he was in a somewhat-seated position. "That's not your decision to make! And we have a lot to learn anyway. We're on top of choosing who'll be second, don't worry."

"Oh, really?" Alonzo asked, getting back to work cutting through the rope. "And how exactly are you deciding this?"

"We're having a competition," Tumblebrutus explained. "Whoever wins, proves himself to be second."

"A competition, huh?" Alonzo said, shaking his head. "And when does this end?"

"…we…uh…whenever one of us wins. WHOA!" Tumblebrutus crashed to the ground, landing squarely on his rear, and with a small groan of pain, tried to free himself of the net around him. By the time he got the net from around his head, Alonzo was staring him down. Tumblebrutus suddenly felt like a kitten again, shrinking down at the harsh glare.

"…You are _not_ going to wait to see who wins." Alonzo's glare seemed to cut right through Tumblebrutus. "You have three days." The tom spun around to leave.

"Whoa!" Tumblebrutus leapt from the net and raced over to the black and white tom, though stayed a safe distance away as the black and white was giving off a very dark aura. "We need more than just three days! This competition takes time!"

"Three days," Alonzo said again, trudging along as he walked away from the other tom.

"Three days is hardly enough time to do what we have to do!" Tumblebrutus told him. "We need at the very least, a week."

"Hell, no," Alonzo said, his ears laying flat on his head, his mouth pulled into a frown. "Three days, and we're leaving it at that! Now shut up, will you? I don't want to wake Cassie." Tumblebrutus watched as the tom was making his way to said queen's den. No wonder he was so pissed off when he arrived…

"If you don't give us more time," Tumblebrutus said, in a voice just loud enough to threaten to wake the sleeping queen, "then I'll not only wake Cassandra up, I'll tell her you were with the other queens!"

Alonzo stopped dead in his tracks. Tumblebrutus felt his heart jump into his throat. He had been hanging around Plato too long to be able to think up a malicious blackmail like that…

Alonzo turned, an indeterminable expression on his face. "You wouldn't…"

"Um…" No, he couldn't be cowardly about it. He had to be strong in his decision…to anger a cat who had the potential to ruin his life. So, taking a big gulp, Tumblebrutus did his best to look strong. "I would."

"But you would be lying," Alonzo said, stepping closer to the tom, his voice in a whisper. "I was there because of you!"

"Yeah," Tumblebrutus said, as he tried to stop his paws from shaking too conspicuously. "But what is Cassandra gunna believe? You had to free a tom cat from a net? Or you were hanging around with four young queens when you should have been sleeping with her in her den? And if she asked Victoria or Etcetera…or even Jemima…don't you think that would look bad when they casually nod that yes, you had been with them that morning…?"

Alonzo seemed torn between killing Tumblebrutus, and knowing that he was telling the truth. While the black and white might have kept his flirting to a minimum around Cassandra, he had far too much history with the others to think the Abyssinian would ever believe he was simply doing them a favor. And that tiny little nugget of truth would be his downfall.

"One week," Alonzo said through clenched teeth.

"Make it two," Tumblebrutus said, feeling elation over take him at the thought of his plan having worked.

"Hell, no!"

"Oh, Cassie!" Tumblebrutus began walking towards the queen's den.

"Alright!" Alonzo said, jerking the tom back towards him. Tumblebrutus thought he surely would have ripped his arm out if he wanted to. "Two weeks. But no more than that!"

With some relief, both toms parted ways. Although not in any way, a friendly manner. But now Tumblebrutus had another problem to worry about…

-----

"Two weeks?!" Plato screeched. It was very unbecoming of him to screech…

"What was I supposed to do?" Tumblebrutus asked. "He could have killed me right there if he wanted to!"

Pouncival smiled. "He wouldn't have killed you."

The tom turned on Pouncival. "You didn't see that _look_ in his eyes!" Pouncival lowered his head and backed away.

"Alright," Plato said, sighing. "This is better…yeah, now we have something to aim for. I mean, how _bad_ of luck do we have to have with queens to not be able to get one to go out with us in two weeks?"

The toms all shrugged in unison. He had a point. How hard could this be, anyway?

-----

Plato ran his paw through his head-fur, carefully considering his position. Demeter seemed to be in a contemplative mood. Though, he didn't know when she wasn't. All he had to do was go up to her and initiate conversation. Certainly, his charm would win her over soon enough.

Plato began to walk up to Demeter. But, somehow, his walk turned into a strut, and by the time he was standing next to Demeter, his chest was puffed out proudly, and his ego seemed to have grown to amazing proportions. "Hey, Dem," he opened. "I--"

Demeter took one look up at him, hissed lightly under her breath, and with a disgusted look on her face, picked up and left, without giving a glance to the tom behind her. Plato stood, dumbfounded, unsure of what could have happened in so short of time.

"Wait, Demeter!" He called, racing after her, feeling a twinge of annoyance at having been so easily ignored. "Wait, I just wanted to talk to you!" Demeter turned a corner, and by the time Plato arrived there, Demeter had disappeared.

Plato took in a shaky breath. Okay, okay…this was nothing to worry about. If anything, he might have an ally in her when he became second. But for now…he just had to try and figure out how to get this disagreeable queen's attention.

---

Pouncival peeked his head from out of a shoe box, peering across the yard at Tantomile. She was speaking with her brother. Of course. She was _always_ speaking with her brother! The question was, did he really want to approach that _kitten-calling low life brother _of hers. He would mess up everything! It was all part of his secret plan…to keep the princess Tantomile from his prince charming – otherwise known as Pouncival. A knight in shining armor…

Or something along those lines. He hadn't decided what his mission would be, so he resorted to fairy tales. It was the only way he could look positively at having to do anything with the queen who creeped him out.

_Formerly_ creeped him out. He couldn't have that mind set if he was going to go out and conquer this queen. Conquer…in a non-sexual way. Anyway…

Then, Pouncival perked his ears up. It seemed the evil Coricopat was walking off, leaving Tantomile alone. Perfect. Just perfect. The queen had begun to groom her paw, and this would be the perfect opportunity to try conversing with the queen.

Pouncival bounded up to Tantomile, catching her slightly off guard as he skidded to a halt in front of her. "Hi!" he said, grinning goofily.

"What are you up to?" she asked, her intense stare almost making Pouncival lose his grin. His ears did fall back, though, but he had to be steadfast on his very important mission. Still, she seemed _so_ _suspicious_ of him. Which put him off, considering that he was suspicious of her.

But he didn't SHOW it.

"Oh…um…" Pouncival licked his lips, trying to get his bearings. "I just thought I don't really talk to you much. You know? We don't talk. At all. Ever." He nodded to confirm what he had just said.

Tantomile furrowed her brows, a small smile creeping on her face. "Pouncival, do you know what caffeine is?" Truthfully, he didn't. It must have been a secret word that meant that an untimely death would befall him and everyone he loved! "It's something in some human food that makes them very hyper," she explained upon the confused, and possibly terrified, look on his face. "You're little…introduction…just reminded me of a child on caffeine, is all."

"Caffeine?" Pouncival asked, genuinely intrigued. "Is it…delicious?"

"Um, no," Tantomile said. "It's actually deadly to most cats."

"AHA!" Pouncival sprang to his feet and pointed an accusing paw at Tantomile. Tantomile's eyes widened in surprise. "I KNEW it! You're plotting our deaths, aren't you?!"

Perhaps, this wasn't the best way to charm a queen…

But to Pouncival's surprise, Tantomile simply smiled. "If I were plotting your death, I certainly wouldn't be as creative as to use caffeine!" Pouncival arched an eyebrow, inspecting Tantomile up and down.

"Really?" he asked silkily. "What would you do, then?"

Tantomile quickly glanced from one side to another, before leaning close to the tom. "For you," she began, a playful expression in her eye, "Probably something that makes it look like an accident. Like…during the Jellicle Ball, when you jumped from the chair, I would have found a way to trip you, so you would land wrong."

"You were watching that?" he asked, baffled.

"You're a little hard to miss, Pouncival." The tom smirked at what the queen, who by all rights should have never noticed a tom kitten running around and acting like an idiot, had said. "And I'm a little surprised," she admitted.

"Why's that?"

"You don't mind a slightly twisted sense of humor," she said, before going back to grooming her paw. Pouncival opened his mouth to retort, before realizing that he did, indeed, enjoy her sense of humor.

"Huh," Pouncival marveled. Then he saw an opportunity. "Hey, do you want to go chase some mice? We can discuss how you would go about murdering Tugger or Jerrie or something?"

Tantomile was about to answer when she turned her head at something. Pouncival looked in the same direction, and after a few moments, Coricopat came around the corner, complete with a glare for Pouncival.

"What's going on?" he asked in an accusatory manner.

"Nothing," Pouncival said defensively, sneering at the tom. "I was just talking to your sister. Tell him, Tantomile."

"We were conspiring ways to kill Mungojerrie," Tantomile verified. To which Pouncival nodded his head vehemently.

Coricopat let go of the assassination going on under his watch and turned his attention to Pouncival. "You've been following us around for the past week. What are you up to? Why are you suddenly so interested in us?!"

Pouncival felt caught, but tried to laugh it off. He turned to Tantomile for support, but she had a look that she wanted to know as well. So with a nervous smile plastered on his face, he shrugged and answered, "It's just a coincidence."

Coricopat scowled at the tom. Then, without a word, the tom turned and left. Tantomile got up, and just as silently, left along with her brother.

"Wha—Tantomile?" But the queen just shrugged at the tom before leaving. Pouncival sighed to himself, silently cursing his luck, before sitting and thinking of his situation.

…EVIL Coricopat…

----

The brown and white tom crept through the shadows, towards two tiger tabbies calmly grooming themselves. Mungojerrie was the first to notice this tom coming out of the shadows and making his way over to them, his eyes intensely fixated on the male orange tabby. Mungojerrie nudged Rumpleteazer out of her grooming daze and pointed to the brown and white.

"Well, well, well," Mungojerrie smiled cheekily. "Didja want some more?"

"You're such a Pollicle, Mungo," Tumblebrutus said, making to whack the tom upside the head, but the orange tabby quickly ducked. "What did you have to do _that_, for?"

"Aw, don't take it all personal-like, Tumble."

"Yeah," Rumpelteazer nodded her head, her bright green eyes with a playful look in it. "We didn' know it was you. We though' it was Pouncival."

"And after you saw it was me, you didn't have the decency to cut me down?"

Both cats opened their mouths to answer when they realized they had no idea how to answer that. Rumpelteazer leaned close to her partner in crime. "'e's got a point, luv."

"You two are horrible." Tumblebrutus shook his head. "I thought our friendship was stronger than that, Mungo."

Mungojerrie started laughing. Tumblebrutus made a face and began to walk away. But the tabby grabbed his arm. "No, wait, Tumble, don' be like that. Come on! Wha' can we do to make it up to ya?"

Tumblebrutus was about to answer, "Nothing, you jackass!" when he thought about his situation. His eyes darted to Rumpleteazer, who was watching with interest, then back to a delightfully-ignorant-to-his-plan Mungojerrie. Quickly, he had to run through this.

What would be the most fruitful thing to ask for? He couldn't very well ask for a date with Rumpleteazer without knowing their relationship with each other. And he couldn't let them know that his intention the entire time they were being followed was the tabby queen. And it was probably best if he could explain away why he was following them to begin with before they stopped worrying about his feelings and started wondering why.

Glancing once more at Rumpleteazer, he took a deep breath, then looked to Mungojerrie. "You know…I think I know something," he said, trying hard to stop himself from shaking as he pulled his arm away from the tiger tom. "I've been thinking, lately…wondering what it's like to…you know…be like you guys."

"What?" Rumpleteazer asked. "Stripe-ed?"

"No…burglars."

"Shh!" Mungojerrie clapped a paw over Tumblebrutus' mouth. "Don' spread it around!"

Tumblebrutus pulled away. "Everyone knows your burglars, Mungo."

"Oh, okay, then." Mungojerrie shrugged.

"You wanna be like us?" Rumpelteazer asked, looking intrigued. "And you though' you'd figga' it out by followin' us 'round?"

"Yeah, well…" He quickly cleared his throat, trying not to pay attention to the partners in crime smiling to each other. "So, I was thinking…since you want to make it up to me, that maybe I could join you on a mission or two…maybe?"

The tabby cats had a similar look on their face…one eyebrow raised, the side of their mouths curled up at one end. Mungojerrie was about to say something, but Rumpleteazer pulled him aside before anything could be said. They huddled together in deep conversation. Every once in a while, one of the pair looked over to Tumblebrutus, considered him, then went back into the deep conversation.

After a while, the brown and white was positive they had forgotten what they were originally talking about and had gone off on a tangent. When he saw them pointing at each other, and then laughing, he decided it was time to put an end to things and clear his throat to get their attention. They jumped apart like shrapnel and stood at attention.

"Okay!" Rumpelteazer announced, striking a pose for some unknown reason, her paws on her hips. ""Alrigh'! We've made our decision, and we decided that you can follow us aroun' a bit, if ya'd like!"

"Really?" he asked, shocked it was so easy.

Then Mungojerrie delivered the catch. "As long as you can keep up with us." Tumblebrutus' smile fell.

Why couldn't anything be _easy_?!


End file.
